Paintings of animals in the prehistoric caves of Lascaux in Dordogne, France, heavily influenced the construction of Deer and Fawn, whose contours and movements are evoked by sweeping curves. Rejecting the theory that art imitated nature, Nadelman preferred to draw and sculpt only with what he called the “freshness and force” of the curve. He studied in Warsaw, Krakow, Munich, and Paris before immigrating to America to escape the growing crisis of World War I.

In 1920, Eliza Radeke, president of the Rhode Island School of Design, became the first to place Nadelman’s work in an American art museum.